Page 3

How does the project align with your institution’s priorities and needs?

Why did you choose the outcome and library factor as areas to examine?

Why was the team composition appropriate?

By having been given this opportunity to take part in a faculty-teaching-collaboration; we as librarians (with our special resources, knowledge, skills, and abilities) will be another source to help make a positive impact on the learning of first-year students. We aligned with a written General Education Common Learning Objective, stating students will “Demonstrate their use of the college library and other resources and tools for obtaining information.”

As team leader and Library Director, I see this collaboration as an ideal opportunity to be more innovative and proactive in creating first impressions of library resources and services for the retention of first-year college students. This is especially important considering most WVSU students are not living on campus, so students have to consider making special efforts for Library visits as part of their campus visits. This project’s data on students’ perceptions is important for all persons involved in helping students attain success.

What are the significant contributions of your project?

What was learned about assessing the library’s impact on student learning and success?

What was learned about creating or contributing to a culture of assessment on campus?

What, if any, are the significant findings of your project?

We have had excellent experiences using information literacy instruction to improve levels in how students perceive they perform in their locating of information ability. Based upon the main research question investigated in this study, the students' perceived learning revealed that information literacy instruction could improve their locating of information ability, demonstrated by the statistically significant difference between students’ pre- and post-instruction perceptions of their ability to locate information. The pre- and post-test also showed the results of highly increased enhancement of student learning as a result of the information literacy instruction session. Ultimately, the results revealed that students’ perceptions regarding their ability to locate information were all improved significantly after the information literacy instruction.

What will you change as a result of what you learned (– e.g., institutional activities, library functions or practices, personal/professional practice, other)?

How does this project contribute to current, past, or future assessment activities on your campus?

As a result of what was learned, an additional step to take is to expand the teaching of information literacy for different classes across the curriculum. Then, gather qualitative data for different perspectives on how students “Demonstrate their use of the college library and other resources and tools for obtaining information” and use retention data correlated with academic performance data to provide a fuller picture of the impact of information literacy on student success.

Our next step is to form a partnership between the Library Staff and the Admissions Staff, in order to create a brochure as a tool for recruitment and new student orientations that reference this study. The feasibility of this collaborative approach in working together on a brochure to orientate new students makes it a practical step that may lead to better outcomes in the making of first impressions on new students.

My participation in this Assessment-in-Action project has positioned me to become a greater asset. You are welcome to schedule me for a presentation or consultation assessing transformations needed in today's library.

Also, if your organization needs a speaker or moderator, you may email me for presentations that celebrate or promote student success and that acknowledge the value of libraries and diversity and inclusion.

I plan to continually promote a campus culture of Assessment and to speak and consult on topics related to:

West Virginia State University’s Library leveraged its information literacy instruction to promote first-year students' progress toward a General Education Common Learning Objective, through a faculty collaboration that integrated library instruction into a Freshman Experience course. An indirect-assessment (pre- and post-test) measured how students perceived the learning experience. Students’ responses provided information that demonstrates how students perceive their ability to locate information changed, as a result of learning during this one (50-minute) session of the course.